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Research Foundation and Methodology for Living Wage Analysis

Our intent here is to report on At the Ready’s findings from our research into how the salaries of the first responder fields fare in all 50 states and Washington D.C.

What is a living wage? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) living wage model was developed as an alternative way (as opposed to poverty rate data) to describe economic conditions in a given state. MIT describes it as “market-based approach that draws upon geographically specific expenditure data related to a family’s likely minimum food, childcare, health insurance, housing, transportation, and other necessities (e.g. clothing, personal care items, etc.) costs. The living wage draws on these cost elements and the rough effects of income and payroll taxes to determine the minimum employment earnings necessary to meet a family’s basic needs while also maintaining self-sufficiency.”

To gain an understanding of how responders fare when it comes to salary we compared the mean salary, in each state; from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, against the living wage in each state, as calculated by the MIT living wage model (2018). Although we initially considered weighing heavily the cost of living for each state in our analysis, we chose not to because MIT’s living wage is specific to each state. Therefore, the fact that it costs more to live in D.C. or California than it does to live in Mississippi or Ohio is irrelevant. The cost of living for a state or states was only considered when it helped explain why, possibly, responders there are not being paid a living wage. The salary data is from May 2016, the latest year available.

The living wages used for this analysis represent the income needed to support two adults and one child. While the living wage model can describe the wage for other family compositions, such as two adults with two children, it made more sense to use the living wage for two adults and one child because, according to Statista, the average American family size in 2017 was 3.14 people. The living wage data is drawn from "This Is How Much A Living Wage Is in Each State" by Chris Kolmar on the Zippia web site. We submit that it is possible that, had 2017 or 2018 BLS mean salary data been available, our results could have been different. It is important to note that the mean salary data does not include overtime pay. The BLS data is a mean; the salaries of some are lower, and some are higher.

Although we initially considered weighing heavily the cost of living for each state in our analysis, we chose not to because MIT’s living wage is specific to each state. Therefore, the fact that it costs more to live in D.C. or California than it does to live in Mississippi or Ohio is irrelevant. The cost of living for a state or states was only considered when it helped explain why, possibly, responders there are not being paid a living wage. The salary data is from May 2016, the latest year available. The living wages used for this analysis represent the income needed to support two adults and one child. While the living wage model can describe the wage for other family compositions, such as two adults with two children, it made more sense to use the living wage for two adults and one child living wage because, according to Statista, the average American family size in 2017 was 3.14 people. We submit that it is possible that, had 2017 or 2018 BLS mean salary data been available in the Zippia data, that our results could have been different. It is important to note that the mean salary data does not include overtime pay. The BLS data is a mean; the salaries of some are lower, and some are higher.

The impact of the Patrol Officer, Dispatcher, EMT, Firefighter, or Corrections Officer not being paid a living wage will vary, of course, depending upon the category in which the family falls. If the spouse of the patrol officer also works, they probably do not have much of a problem making ends meet. The impact of not being paid a living wage is lessened by the spouse’s additional income.

Salaries, regardless of occupation, are generally market driven. The employer generally will pay a worker at or close to the wage that other employers are paying similar workers for the same job. This is just the way it has always been done. However, given the results of this analysis perhaps it makes more sense to use the living wage as a guide for determining salaries for police and sheriff patrol officers, at least in the states with lower costs of living.